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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

News, Part (2): British Museum unravelled after 3,000 years the secrets of the singing mummy Tamut

Her
body has lain undisturbed for almost 3,000 years.

Now,
thanks to modern technology, the secrets of Tamut’s life are being unwrapped
without upsetting her peace.

RIGHT SIDE IMAGE … This
remarkable image shows the beautifully-preserved body of a female Egyptian
temple singer from 900BC.

Using
a CT scanner in London hospitals, experts from the British Museum peered
through the intricately decorated burial case and the multiple layers of linen
bandages to the person hidden inside.

The
electronic excavation showed Tamut to have received the most lavish level of
mummification, with amulets and other mystical jewels buried with her.

These
include artificial eyes, to allow her to see in the afterlife, thin plates of
gold or another precious metal on her finger and toe nails and metal plates
designed to magically heal the wounds left by the embalmer. Some
of the amulets were placed on her body – others were put inside, beside her
vital organs.

Her
hair was short, likely because she wore a wig, and examination of her pelvis
suggests she was at least 35 when she died. The cause of death is unknown – but
the scans provide a tantalising clue. They
show a large part of the femoral artery in her upper thigh to be clogged with
fat, a piece of which could have broken off and triggered a heart attack or a
stroke.

The
hieroglyphics on her burial case tell us who she was and who her parents were.
They also reveal she was a chantress of the god Amun – or a temple singer.

Tamut
is one of eight mummies to be virtually unwrapped in the British Museum’s
Ancient Lives, New Discoveries exhibition from May 22

Tamut was part of a collection built up by a French diplomat in
the 1890s. Some had undergone X-rays in the 1960s.

30 days crooning for King of Gods - then 90 days off

Wearing a long wig and flowing diaphanous robes, glamorous Tamut
had an important job in Luxor 3,000 years ago.

The bustling city, 300 miles south of Cairo, was the religious
capital of ancient Egypt and as a singer in its Temple of Amun-Ra, the King of
the Gods, it was her job to help keep him happy.

The Egyptians believed their gods were
entertained by music and one ancient text says the temple singer was one ‘who
pacifies the god with a sweet voice’. The temple singers were an elite group of women with high status
in society. Ancient sources suggest they were probably trained by their
mothers, with several generations of women in a single family often holding the
position in the temple, which is part of the temple complex of Karnak.

There were several hundred temple singers, and they worked in
rotations of 30 days on, then 90 days off, with, it is believed, around 50 of
them on duty in the temple at any one time. Every day they would accompany a male priest in a series of
rituals.

The temple contained a small statue of Amun-Ra, probably only
about 1ft tall but made of gold and silver. Each day the priest would purify the statue by bathing it, dress
it in fresh clothes and food would be laid at its feet.

Dr John Taylor, curator of the British Museum’s
department of Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, said: ‘They believed that the god’s
spirit dwelled in the statue and needed to be nourished in this way.

‘While the priest was doing this, incense would be burning and the
temple singers would be chanting, clapping and shaking a rattle-like instrument
called a sistrum that made a clanging metallic sound.

Amun-Ra was an amalgamation of a very
early Egyptian god called Amun, who was concerned with creation, and Ra the sun
god.

Inscriptions on the brightly decorated cartonnage, or casing,
around Tamut’s remains, show that her father Khonsumose was a priest in the
same temple where she sang. Dr Taylor said Tamut’s mother
Mehenmuthat was very likely to have been a temple singer too.

Tamut is depicted on the cartonnage wearing barely-there linen
robes and a long black wig as she makes her journey to the underworld. Dr
Taylor said her clothes are those of a high status woman and she would have
worn similar attire in the temple. He said: ‘It was expected that a young woman dressed in a slightly
provocative way.

'Basically, the temple singers were trying to assure the approval
of the god and that included his sexual appetite so it was thought acceptable
to dress in partly see-through clothes.’ Wigs made of human hair were a status symbol and also worn as a
way of staying free of head lice, which were often a problem in ancient Egypt. It is known from her remains that Tamut had short-cropped hair
beneath the dark wig she is depicted wearing.

It is thought temple singers received a
portion of the food which was laid before the god’s statue. This could, sources suggest, be up to 20 sacks of grain a day –
meaning the annual total would have been enough to support 110 families.

In addition, the god would be given luxury foods such as beef and
duck (meat did not form a large part of the ancient Egyptians’ diet, which
mainly consisted of flat breads, vegetables, dates, figs and fish) and it is
possible Tamut’s death could have been linked to her access to the fatty foods.

She is thought to have been at least 35 when she died around 900BC
– around the average life expectancy at the time. Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt
as a boy more than 400 years earlier, died at just 17. Tamut had furred arteries and may well have died from a heart
attack or stroke ‘The state of her arteries could have been a genetic thing, or
it could be down to a fat-rich diet. 'Was she eating a lot of roast duck from the god’s altar?’ said Dr
Taylor.

It is not known if Tamut was married, but it is extremely likely
as women in ancient Egypt were expected to marry when they reached puberty. Nor is it known if she had children, but the chances are she did –
and probably several as women having up to 12 pregnancies was common. Away from the temple, Tamut would have supervised her family home
and probably had a few servants.

Dr Taylor said: ‘I would imagine she had a reasonably easy life
style. 'She probably didn’t do much in the way of manual work, but would
have run the home and probably spent quite a lot of her time pregnant and
looking after the children.’